The Leadership for Learning Project (named after its Swedish sponsoring body - Carpe Vitam) ran from 2002 to 2006. Seven countries, eight higher education institutions and 24 schools participated in exploring the connections between leadership and learning through conferences, workshops, school visits and inter-country exchanges.

We did not start from a blank slate or from a neutral stance but from a set of democratic values about leadership and learning. How those values could be translated into practical strategies at school and classroom level, however, was something we planned to discover through experimentation, reflection and collective debate over the life of the project.

Part way through that process we began to identify ‘principles for practice’ that would help to clarify and focus attention on the transformations in learning and leadership that were beginning to take place. These five principles were refined and developed throughout the project and are illustrated below with examples of how they are playing out in schools in the seven countries and eight sites of the Carpe Vitam project. Our publication 'Making the Connections' tells the full story of the project. Please contact the LfL Administrator for copies of this document.

The first principle: leadership for learning practice involves maintaining a focus on learning as an activity

The second principle: leadership for learning practice involves creating conditions favourable to learning as an activity

The third principle: leadership for learning practice involves creating a dialogue about LfL

The fourth principle: leadership for learning practice involves the sharing of leadership

The fifth principle: leadership for learning practice involves fostering a shared sense of accountability

A journey in fours acts: from Cambridge to Athens via Innsbruck and Copenhagen